N.G. Blalock, mayor of Walla Walla and a local businessman, was Walla Walla College’s first major philanthropist. In 1891 he offered 40 acres of his orchard property for the new Seventh-day Adventist college, prompting donations from other Walla Walla citizens. In return, Blalock and community members insisted on a large, impressive building and also pushed Henry Decker into a 25-year commitment to the community.

Henry Decker never waned in his enthusiastic support of the college project in Walla Walla. Through his persistence and at times audacity, the Upper Columbia Conference president determined that the site of the college would be in Walla Walla, and not in Spokane or Milton.

Financial woes, a problematic site, and rivalries between regional church members were almost the demise of the dream to build a Seventh-day Adventist college in the Pacific Northwest. Two visionaries made the dream a reality.